Mahfuza Akhter Kiron ( bn, মাহফুজা আক্তার কিরণ; born 12 February 1967) is a Bangladeshi

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

administrator and a member of the

FIFA Council The FIFA Council (formerly the FIFA Executive Committee) is an institution of FIFA (the governing body of association football, futsal and beach football). It is the main decision-making body of the organization in the intervals of FIFA Congress. ...

. In May 2017, Akhter won the election for the seat on the FIFA Council reserved for Asian women, beating the incumbent Australian

Moya Dodd Moya Dodd (born 30 April 1965) is an Australian soccer official, a lawyer and former national team player. She is a former executive committee member of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and a former member of the FIFA Council. Football ad ...

, who had held the seat from 2013–16, by 27 votes to 17. Akhter was "heavily criticised" following an interview by the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...

, when she struggled to name the current women's world champions, replying "Korea", then "Japan", and then the correct answer, the US. In March 2019, she was arrested for allegedly defaming the Bangladeshi prime minister,

Sheikh Hasina Sheikh Hasina Wazed (''née'' Sheikh Hasina ; ; bn, শেখ হাসিনা ওয়াজেদ, Shēkh Hasinā, , born 28 September 1947) is a Bangladeshi politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Prime Minister ...

. In a televised interview, Akhter had claimed that the prime minister "maintain ddouble standard for football and cricket."

References

1967 births Living people Bangladeshi sports executives and administrators People of East Pakistan Women FIFA officials Women association football executives {{Bangladesh-footy-bio-stub